SONNY BILL WILLIAMS insists he hasn't been served with any legal documents relating to the court case against him - but after making a successful rugby union debut in France, he remains defiant about threats to seize his assets or even jail him.
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Williams, who declared in Saturday's Herald that he was willing to go to jail if necessary over his desire to switch codes, said he felt the same way about the possibility of losing his $1.3 million house at Caringbah after the NSW Supreme Court ruled he could not play for anyone other than the Bulldogs until 2013.
"Like I said before the game, if they think that I should go to jail for doing what I believe in or if they want to take my house, take my car or take whatever for standing up for what I believe in, then so be it," he told the Herald . "I stand by whatever I've done and to me there are bigger things going on in the world today. They [the NRL] should be more worried about what's going on with the game itself than me."
Asked about claims he had been served with legal papers advising of the court injunction after his match for Toulon, Williams said he had not received any court documents.
He also refuted claims that a process server had thrown a subpoena notice over the fence at training last Wednesday and a trainer had picked it up and handed it to him, satisfying the Supreme Court that he had been legally served. "I don't know what they're talking about," he said. "I haven't even been approached with any documents whatsoever."
When told that panel members on The Footy Show had said he seemed "angry" in the interview aired on the program on Thursday night, Williams said: "Of course I was. I am being vilified like I am a rapist, a criminal, a murderer … What have I done, I've stuck up for what I believe is right and I am getting crucified like I am a mass murderer. Who wouldn't be angry? These people don't even know who I am, they haven't walked in my shoes."
Despite the criticism over Williams's decision to quit the Bulldogs with seven games of their season still to play, he declined to explain his reasons, for now.
But he did reveal that his teammates at Toulon had begun pre-season training at about the same time as he walked out, while it is thought that his ambition of playing for the All Blacks in the next World Cup may have been a factor in turning his back on the remaining four years of his contract. "I'm only in this game for however many years and I've got to achieve as many goals as I can in that short period of time."
